Nearly 9,100 U.S. Flights Canceled as FAA Outage Triggers Resignation Call

Roughly 9,100 U.S.-linked flights were canceled Friday after a Federal Aviation Administration telecommunications failure forced the third nationwide ground stop in modern FAA history — and New York Governor Kathy Hochul is now demanding Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy resign or be removed by President Donald Trump.

"Sean Duffy must resign, or President Trump must remove him immediately," Hochul, a Democrat, wrote Saturday on X. "America's airspace ground to a halt yesterday, leaving thousands of flights canceled and travelers stranded across the country. More than 3,500 planes were already in the air as radar and communications systems faltered."

Hochul also called for a congressional investigation into the disruption, which hit days before the Thanksgiving travel peak. She cited "chronic air traffic controller shortages" and "repeated communications breakdowns" as evidence of systemic failure.

What caused the outage?

The FAA detected unstable, inconsistent radar and communications data at air traffic facilities at 3:36 p.m. EDT Friday. A nationwide ground stop took effect at 3:54 p.m. Airspace reopened at 8:15 p.m., making it the longest nationwide shutdown since September 11, 2001, and only the third in modern FAA history, after 9/11 and the January 2023 failure of the Notice to Air Missions system.

The investigation centers on routine maintenance at a remote FAA site, where personnel were moving the L3Harris-managed telecommunications network from an aging copper line to fiber. Duffy said a router involved in the transition began flooding other routers with more than 1,000 connection attempts every four to five seconds, degrading radar and voice feeds. Officials isolated the system and the network recovered.

"We haven't determined what the fault was," Duffy said, listing human error, configuration problems and defective equipment as open questions. He said the FAA is reviewing the performance of L3Harris.

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said facilities never lost capability entirely. "Nothing went down," Bedford said Saturday. "What we saw was instability and we couldn't explain the instability." Federal officials found no evidence of a cyberattack or AI involvement.

The maintenance work was separate from the FAA's $12.5 billion modernization program funded by Congress in 2025. The agency reported in early November it had replaced 69% of its copper communications lines. Duffy is seeking an additional $50 billion for a broader overhaul.

"We have the safest airspace in the world," Duffy told reporters, adding the country should not depend on controllers and pilots compensating for unstable technology.

How many flights were lost?

Friday's schedule carried approximately 50,000 flights, Bedford said. About 30,000 had operated or were airborne when the ground stop hit, stranding roughly 20,000. Airlines recovered around 8,000. About 12,000 could not fly, including roughly 9,000 commercial flights and 3,000 private or general aviation.

Disruption carried into Saturday. As of 11:33 a.m. ET, FlightAware reported 3,803 cancellations and 2,145 delays on flights within, into or out of the U.S., and 4,235 cancellations and 11,198 delays worldwide. Bedford forecast 4,000 to 5,000 cancellations of roughly 41,000 scheduled Saturday flights.

"We will still have delays and cancellations today, but that will set us up for a full recovery tomorrow," Bedford said, estimating normal schedules by close of business Sunday. Carriers spent the weekend repositioning aircraft, pilots and flight attendants left out of place.

DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said FEMA activated its National Response Coordination Center and all 10 regional centers, though no federal assistance had been requested.

What happens for sellers and travelers?

The FAA and the Transportation Department are conducting a root-cause investigation into the equipment, installation and contractor work, and Duffy said maintenance scheduling will be reassessed — Friday's work ran in daytime hours at a facility nobody expected could trigger national disruption. Bedford said findings could change how legacy networks are maintained going forward.

Under federal rules, passengers whose flights are canceled are entitled to full refunds if they decline rebooking, vouchers or alternatives, and refunds apply to significant schedule changes for those who choose not to travel. Airlines are generally not required to cover meals, hotels or ground transport for disruptions outside their control — leaving carriers to absorb reaccommodation costs and sellers to manage refund volumes through the Thanksgiving rush.